SERVICE TECHS , ARE YOU A FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICK SITTING ON THE BENCH ?

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Sorry, but putting in a commsion for selling crap the customer doesnt need is just an easy way to turn your tech into a parts changer and get your business a reputation for being a hustler. We dont upsell stuff the job doesnt need. If the customer complains about turning the thermostat to different temperatures all day (while youre there fixing something else) and they have a T87, then absolutely suggest a programmable. But dont go in there with the mindset you are going to sell them the world, and dont make your techs do it either!
Someone mentioned a fan motor when replacing a capacitor. thats not upselling in my opinion. Thats being thorough and making sure the unit is fixed for good. If you fix it once and its done, then you will be referred and you will get more business. If you want to take the customer for all theyre worth, that will be the last time they ever speak your name without putting some choice words in front of it.

Look at each customer as your own parents. Would you do to them what youre expecting your workers to do? NO? Then why are you doing it to someone elses?

Every customer you take for granted today will be someone else's tomorrow.

I see conversations on here about being fast on a service call. Fast. Get it Done. Hurry. Hurry.

It's wrong. This is not a production line in an auto plant. Technicians are being raised these days in this environment of hurry up, get it done, hurry hurry. And where has it gotten the trade? One could argue nowhere.

Fix it right the first time, what ever it takes. If your leadership and culture are right, and there is accountability for performance ( is it fixed right ), you won't need all this other stupid bull.

It's shameful what residential contractors have turned the trade into at that level. Light Commercial fast approaching that.

I see conversations on here about being fast on a service call. Fast. Get it Done. Hurry. Hurry.

It's wrong. This is not a production line in an auto plant. Technicians are being raised these days in this environment of hurry up, get it done, hurry hurry. And where has it gotten the trade? One could argue nowhere.

Fix it right the first time, what ever it takes. If your leadership and culture are right, and there is accountability for performance ( is it fixed right ), you won't need all this other stupid bull.

It's shameful what residential contractors have turned the trade into at that level. Light Commercial fast approaching that.

I fought that mentality and WON.

Our area had devolved into the run, run, run mindset an it was killing us.

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Background check required Drug test required Clean driving record mandatory
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HIRING TECHS WITH 2 TO 10 PLUS YEARS OF EXPERIENCE , PAY HOURLY FROM $16 TO $25 PER HOUR PLUS COMMISSION FROM 3 % TO 5 % OF INVOICE TOTAL ( EQUIPMENT SALES OR SERVICE SALES ) BE PREPARED TO EARN FROM $ 40, 000.00 TO $100,000.00 PER YEAR .( If you are happy making less than $ 40,000.00 a year please do not apply for this position .)
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Okay, I hope my response can shed some light for you.

I am already playing for another team (in PA) and I am beyond the draft. That said, for an experienced tech, I believe your base pay is low, and a high stress environment based on sales is not a technician job. It's a sales job. Been there, done that.

Not long ago, I had an interview with another commercial company. I met all of their requirements, and then some. Background check, PA child safety cert, the whole nine yards, since they do work in schools. They asked me what I expected in money, and my response was in line with what I had been told by others is indeed within the company pay scale.

I received a nice boilerplate email about how they will continue their search. One friend thinks it is age discrimination. I can't tell.

What I can tell you is this: the guys who really see themselves as techs generally work in the commercial environment, and the ones who want to make money selling humidifiers to old ladies work in residential. There are some few companies who are exceptions, I'm sure.

During my interview, the subject of future employees, 10 or 15 years from now, came up. We agreed that there would be very few guys who will want to do the work we do. Some call that a "shortage." It is not.

In aviation, they often talk about a "pilot shortage," as if there will not be enough folks able to fly airplanes. That is not true, and the truth applies equally to HVAC.

You see there is never a shortage of workers.

The IS a shortage of workers who are willing to do the job for the pay being offered to work under those circumstances.

Right now, you have an ad posting that extends far beyond your local area, in an effort to recruit workers. My position is that if a company offers the right pay for the job and working conditions there is NEVER a shortage of workers!!

So, 10 or 15 years down the road, we will see 80% immigrants doing trades work, for perhaps ONE generation at the most, and their children, like the children of today, will realize that they can make just as much money writing apps for the iPhone as they can spending 50 hours a week in attics and crawl spaces, and the guys that like to diagnose and fix, instead of sell, sell, sell will be working in commercial, and looking to leave retail or residential behind them. Like me.

I am already playing for another team (in PA) and I am beyond the draft. That said, for an experienced tech, I believe your base pay is low, and a high stress environment based on sales is not a technician job. It's a sales job. Been there, done that.

Not long ago, I had an interview with another commercial company. I met all of their requirements, and then some. Background check, PA child safety cert, the whole nine yards, since they do work in schools. They asked me what I expected in money, and my response was in line with what I had been told by others is indeed within the company pay scale.

I received a nice boilerplate email about how they will continue their search. One friend thinks it is age discrimination. I can't tell.

What I can tell you is this: the guys who really see themselves as techs generally work in the commercial environment, and the ones who want to make money selling humidifiers to old ladies work in residential. There are some few companies who are exceptions, I'm sure.During my interview, the subject of future employees, 10 or 15 years from now, came up. We agreed that there would be very few guys who will want to do the work we do. Some call that a "shortage." It is not.

In aviation, they often talk about a "pilot shortage," as if there will not be enough folks able to fly airplanes. That is not true, and the truth applies equally to HVAC.

You see there is never a shortage of workers.

The IS a shortage of workers who are willing to do the job for the pay being offered to work under those circumstances.

Right now, you have an ad posting that extends far beyond your local area, in an effort to recruit workers. My position is that if a company offers the right pay for the job and working conditions there is NEVER a shortage of workers!!

So, 10 or 15 years down the road, we will see 80% immigrants doing trades work, for perhaps ONE generation at the most, and their children, like the children of today, will realize that they can make just as much money writing apps for the iPhone as they can spending 50 hours a week in attics and crawl spaces, and the guys that like to diagnose and fix, instead of sell, sell, sell will be working in commercial, and looking to leave retail or residential behind them. Like me.

I hope that helps to give you a new perspective.

Great line! But i've been skewered by a few resi guys here as being an "arrogant commercial guy" for stating basically the same thing. We'll see what happens here.